8 Misbelieves that are hurting your CRO efforts

21/03/2017

Conversion Rate Optimization is one of the most important metrics to optimize and get higher conversion rates. But, it is a practice which is often misunderstood as marketers expect CROs to do it all from growing traffic to converting leads.

There exist a lot of misconceptions about conversion rate which are vague and don’t make any sense. This article will help you become aware of some of the most common misconceptions, so that you do not waste your time and effort using them.

1) CRO is all about SplitTesting

One of the most common myths prevailing in today’s world is that CRO is all about Split testing. It is basically about tracking the actions of the users which lead them to buy from your site. But most of the people think that it is split testing the site elements.

While doing the CRO the factors on which emphasis should be laid on are as follows:

Functionality: Whether the site can perform basic functions or not

Accessibility: Is the search function or other functions easily accessible to all the users regardless of their locations or devices

Usability: The font size is easy to read or not and the navigation items look like they are for navigating or not

Intuitively: Users can intuitively figure out the site’s content

Persuasiveness: Can your site pursue or convince users to handle their contact information or not

2) Small Changes lead to Big Results

Most of the entrepreneurs think that by making minor changes they can earn big rewards. You will see several examples over the internet which says that by changing a single word you get 90% more clicks, but these sites do not provide the full information that for how long the test was done to get such good results.

But, if you really want to double your conversion rate, then you should focus on different methods to tests the various elements of your website. And, then redesign and make tweaks to your website on the basis of your test results because small changes cannot help you get higher conversion rates.

3) All the Visitors Use your Website in Same Manner

A common misconception marketers have is that the behavior of all the users on your site is same. They should not believe in these false assumptions rather study the different user behaviors and optimize your website accordingly to improve user experience.

You can also segment your audience on the basis of their behavior with the help of tools like Google Analytics. All the visitors have different needs, so treating them all in the same way can never work in your interest. For example, a person looking for a course can be a student, entrepreneur or a jobseeker, so a landing page should segment the audience accordingly.

4) The only Metric you should consider is CRO

The biggest misconception about CRO is that it solves all the problems and it is the only metric on which marketers should focus. The ultimate goal of CRO is to bring conversion, so in order to make sure that you are accomplishing your end goal you need to consider all the important metrics rather than just focusing upon a single metric, CRO.

Rather you should consider several other important metrics like visitor loyalty that for how frequently he or she visits your site. So, CRO is one part of the whole process but to grow your business you need to use all the metrics.

5) CRO is all about the bestpractices and the best results

CRO is not about following the practices which work well for other marketing websites, as it is not necessary that what worked well for them will also work for you. That website has different visitors and it could be the reason those practices are working for them.

But, the truth is CRO is not about implementing the changes that other sites are making. Instead you should analyze all your data and then, the insights you get from it after analyzing should be used for optimizing site for better conversion rates.

For example, several users found out that changing the color of CTA button from green to red improved their website conversion rate by 32%. But it doesn’t mean work well for all the users who tried this.

6) Shorter the copy, the better it works

It is a common refrain that people do not like to read long copy or long sales copy doesn’t generate leads. But in reality people like to read to clear their doubts, concerns and to know about your business more. The people who are genuinely interested in your products and services always like to have more information about it, so it is not like that long copy does not work well.

If your copy is long but provides valuable and relevant information, then the readers are likely to read every word of it. For example, Moz tested using a longer landing page and it resulted in a 52% increase in sales.

7) CRO is considered to be a Single Skill Practice

CRO is often misunderstood is a single skill practice but it is not true. In reality, it is a broad practice in which you need to consider a wide range of skills.

In order to get better conversion rates you need to have at least 3 different set of skills.

Copywriting: it is a skill which have a big impact on your final conversion rates is if you can write persuasive content or not

Designing: the graphics of your website play a major role in conversion. Everything is connected to conversion rates from UI/UX to other design elements

Analytics: run tests and analyze the results, and then make the changes accordingly

So, CRO is a compilation of skills in which several factors should be taken care of.

8) Surveys are not required to know my users

The only constant in marketing is change, so if you think that you know your customers well enough, then you are wrong. With time everything changes no matter whether they are consumers or businesses.

You need to survey your target audience from time to time, as their needs may be different now. With the help of these surveys you can easily get to know what’s there in your audience mind. So, if you want to increase conversion rates, then you must implement surveys.

CRO has the potential to make a big difference in your website’s conversion rate, but only if you avoid using these common misbelieves which are mentioned above. You not only waste your time and money by believing in these misconceptions, but you can also lose your potential buyers.

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